Tending Bike

Marc Varela, better known by his stage name Tending Bike, and formerly known as Big Lil, and Tending Bike Leaf as well as various other stage names, is a Canadian rapper who was first signed to Flex Entertainment from early 2019 to mid 2020. He is known for singles such as "Glizzy", "SpiderBike", "Backseat", which became his first Flex Entertainment Hot 100 number one single, and especially his "Crotch Music" song series, as well as his deep and distinct voice and unique vocal inflections. Fans have compared him to rappers like Blueface and Pop Smoke. After a large and widespread campaign to join Flex again, he was signed back on April 26, 2022.

2019-20: Lil Big and The Contender
Under the stage name Big Lil, Tending Bike was signed to the label in the first months of Flex, and flew under the radar for a long time. His best known songs in his first sting in Flex included "Air Jordans," "Insane," and "Matrix." He landed successful features on Lil Squeaky's "Menace" and "Menace 2" during this stint as well.

Bike announced his debut album Lil Big in January 2020, set to release in May. However, the album would soon be canceled. He would break the intended tracks down into two EPs: Lil Big (Brain) and The Contender, both of which were met with generally negative reception. A third EP, Drinkin' Soda, which was supposed to be made with fellow Flex artist and longtime friend LEGGOLAND, was set to release in July, and was preceded by the lead single "H8TRZ," but was eventually scrapped.

2020: Label complications and "Backseat"
He was initially kicked out of the label in July, and he then joined CRZRecords (later Billion Dollar Records). He became an executive in Billion Dollar Records, but later resigned the position and left the label.

On September 20th 2020 he was signed back to Flex Entertainment after the release of his single "Backseat" which was seen by many to be a very fun and enjoyable song that contained the Flex spirit despite him not being at the label when the song dropped.

In late 2020, a number of old Tending Bike songs from his Big Lil days were leaked, including "To the Moon" featuring $LUMP, "Crip With a Sticc" featuring Lil Mosquito Disease and J1D, and most importantly, "Side Effects" featuring Lil Kolya and Lil PP, which quickly gained notoriety in the label and received a surprise remix featuring Lil Squeaky, Lil Mosquito Disease, and Yung Lambo.

2021: Biker Gang, Tha Shop, and Bike's Fun Adventure
On January 17th 2021 Bike along with Flex Entertainment executive Yung Lambo started the short-lived collective "Biker Gang". The collective became less known for its music and more known for Bike and Lambo's constant arguing about how the collective should be run, before its eventual demise.

A day later the collective released "Biker Gang Sings The Classics" inspired by Lil Squeaky's April 2020 live mixtape "Squeaky Sings The Classics" the project.

Bike ended up leaving the collective in May of 2021, the collective officially disbanded on August 23rd 2021.

In January, Bike released a remix to "Backseat," which featured fellow Flex Entertainment rapper LEGGOLAND. The song was a surprise hit, accumulating over a thousand plays on SoundCloud within a week of releasing. A highly controversial and negatively received remix, it immediately went to number one on the Flex Entertainment Hot 100. Despite the remix's negative reception, many saw this as a big victory for Bike, an artist who was once shunned from the label but was now on top of the charts.

On March 12th 2021, Bike released his long awaited debut studio album "Tha Shop", creatively directed and executive produced by Yung Lambo. The album contained features from Hood Guy, Lil Sperm, Young Seagull, Yung Lambo, LEGGOLAND and Lil Squeaky. The album was released to positive reception; however, as time went by, listeners began to reconsider their opinions and began attributing most of the album's quality and enjoyability to Yung Lambo's direction.

He left the label on April 23rd 2021 but signed back on May 3rd 2021, about 8 days later he made the decision to depart from the label for good and has no intentions on returning anytime soon. Bike started his own label called Bike Shop Records on October 27th, 2021. Bike Shop Records ended a month later after Bike sold the label to Embee. His second studio album "Bike's Fun Adventure" was released on November 12th, 2021. The album was met with catastrophically negative reception and was immediately labeled the worst album of all time by numerous former fans, and was considered to have killed his career. The album has since slightly rebounded in its reception, being seen by many as at least being funny.

In the early months of 2022, Bike focused on consistently releasing new singles such as "Military," "Blue Jeans," and "Crotch Music." Around the same time, a large fan campaign began to gain traction proposing that Bike should be signed back to Flex Entertainment. More and more Flex Entertainment artists and fans began to endorse this movement, with only a select few executives opposing signing him back, as even Lil Mosquito Disease, Yung Lambo, and Beetlebat joined his side. This caused a large amount of controversy, particularly due to the fact that Bike was being denied entry into Flex by a single executive, especially after label executive Payden McKnight was the only person against signing Bike back. Many Bike supporters stated that he was being "filibustered" out of Flex, and questioned why other artists were being signed by single executives, but Tending Bike had to receive confirmation from all executives. After Payden finally announced his support, Tending Bike was signed back to Flex Entertainment on April 26th, 2022.

Bike released his self titled third studio album on July 8th, 2022, preceded by the single "Buss" featuring CRZFawkz and Lil Jxck, and with all songs being produced by Lil Squeaky. The album received positive reception from listeners, many of whom became Bike fans again after the album's release. Bike's loose and strange performances on the album in particular received praise, with several songs being deemed surprisingly catchy. Around the same time, Bike released a compilation of scrapped songs, Sorry We're Closed!: A Collection Of The Finest Tending Bike Fun Summer Bangers. He has also been teasing the release of a deluxe edition to his self-titled album. A fourth studio album, titled Biking Type Music, was briefly announced for a September release but was quickly scrapped.

Trivia

 * Tending Bike is the only musical artist in history to release a 4-part album and call it a trilogy.